Bags of body parts found along road outside Detroit

Associated Press

Friday, Jan. 31, 2014 | 8:50 a.m.

ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Body parts found in garbage bags along a southeastern Michigan road are believed to be the remains of one person and investigators are seeking a woman seen dumping things from a vehicle in the area, a sheriff said.

The remains found starting Thursday afternoon in garbage bags are believed to be from a white male, St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said in a statement Friday. The bags were in St. Clair and China townships, about 50 miles northeast of Detroit.

"A citizen called in a suspicious situation," Donnellon's office said in a statement. "Deputies and detectives from the sheriff's office responded and discovered garbage bags containing body parts."

The statement did not say if all of the parts of the body have been recovered.

The identity of the person whose remains were found along Fred Moore Highway and Allington Road hasn't been released. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday at the office of the St. Clair County medical examiner.

Shortly before 5 a.m. Friday, Donnellon said investigators got a tip from a citizen and found a bag near Interstate 94 that contained clothing and charred paperwork. They were trying to figure out whether that bag is linked to the remains.

The total number of bags found wasn't being released Friday morning, Deputy Steve Campau said in an email.

Donnellon said authorities are seeking a middle-age white woman driving a late 1990s gray or tan sport utility vehicle. She was seen dumping what a caller thought was garbage from the vehicle.

Members of the Michigan State Police Forensic Crime Lab assisted in evidence collection at the scene.